Elections 2018

Opinion

Families of Victims Query Discrepancy in MoI Compensation

Nusratullah Nazari is the brother of a fallen Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who lost his life a month ago in the line of duty in Kunduz province.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Tuesday confirmed that families of policemen who lost their lives in the line of duty have not received equal compensation packages from the state.

According to the MoI, currently, over 15,000 families who lost relatives serving in the ANP in the past 17 years have registered for compensation but that payouts have not been provided equally.

Nusratullah Nazari is the brother of a fallen Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who lost his life a month ago in the line of duty in Kunduz province.

“He was serving in PD1 of Kunduz city, he was deputy commander of operations. He also served in Faryab province for several years, he returned to Kunduz and was taken hostage during the war. Government should help families of the martyrs and address their problems,” said Nusratullah.

“Youths have always served the country, our expectations from the government is to stop violence, otherwise these issues brings down the moral of the youths,” said the cousin of another victim.

“All privileges of families of the martyrs who are registered with us are provided to them on time; their salaries are paid to their families, they also receive some other aid annually such as rations, cash, pilgrimage to Hajj or allotment of a house or land. Unfortunately, the number of police officers martyred in the line of duty is very high, around 15,000 are registered by the interior ministry; equal compensation packages which include land or houses are provided only to limited number of them,” said MoI spokesman Najib Danish.

Meanwhile, a number of political analysts have said that the spike in the death toll among security forces is one of the key factors that has been a challenge for government in terms of addressing the needs of families of fallen soldiers.

Exact casualty figures have not however been made public since late last year when the US military ordered casualty and attrition rates in the Afghan army and police force to be withheld at the request of the Kabul government.

The decision to withhold the casualty figures came after Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that casualties had been increasing as the Taliban gained ground.

In November, SIGAR said that the Pentagon told its inspectors that the data belonged to the Afghan government and it must therefore "withhold, restrict, or classify the data as long as the Afghan government has classified it."

Families of Victims Query Discrepancy in MoI Compensation

Nusratullah Nazari is the brother of a fallen Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who lost his life a month ago in the line of duty in Kunduz province.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Tuesday confirmed that families of policemen who lost their lives in the line of duty have not received equal compensation packages from the state.

According to the MoI, currently, over 15,000 families who lost relatives serving in the ANP in the past 17 years have registered for compensation but that payouts have not been provided equally.

Nusratullah Nazari is the brother of a fallen Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who lost his life a month ago in the line of duty in Kunduz province.

“He was serving in PD1 of Kunduz city, he was deputy commander of operations. He also served in Faryab province for several years, he returned to Kunduz and was taken hostage during the war. Government should help families of the martyrs and address their problems,” said Nusratullah.

“Youths have always served the country, our expectations from the government is to stop violence, otherwise these issues brings down the moral of the youths,” said the cousin of another victim.

“All privileges of families of the martyrs who are registered with us are provided to them on time; their salaries are paid to their families, they also receive some other aid annually such as rations, cash, pilgrimage to Hajj or allotment of a house or land. Unfortunately, the number of police officers martyred in the line of duty is very high, around 15,000 are registered by the interior ministry; equal compensation packages which include land or houses are provided only to limited number of them,” said MoI spokesman Najib Danish.

Meanwhile, a number of political analysts have said that the spike in the death toll among security forces is one of the key factors that has been a challenge for government in terms of addressing the needs of families of fallen soldiers.

Exact casualty figures have not however been made public since late last year when the US military ordered casualty and attrition rates in the Afghan army and police force to be withheld at the request of the Kabul government.

The decision to withhold the casualty figures came after Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that casualties had been increasing as the Taliban gained ground.

In November, SIGAR said that the Pentagon told its inspectors that the data belonged to the Afghan government and it must therefore "withhold, restrict, or classify the data as long as the Afghan government has classified it."